A Matryoshka in St. Petersburg

You read that right!
This French Madame went to Russia!

I've got two stamps in my passport to prove it.

We went for a few days and the weather was very sunny,
which, our tour guide told us, was very rare for St. Petersburg as
it only has 60 sunny days a year. So lucky us!!

I was mostly looking forward seeing some pitoresque, Russian-style churches like this one:



Can you believe I shot this from inside a dark bus?
The gold and blue colors just pop out!


A very pretty church indeed. But my first day I visited Catherine's Palace.

The Catherine Palace is a Rococo palace located in a town called Pushkin.
It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars.






When we arrived, we were greeted by a Russian band playing the American national anthem.






Catherine I of Russia, was Peter the Great's second wife.
She reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death in 1727.

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She was raised in Latvia, and fled to Moscow at age 17.
There she became part of the household of Prince Alexander Menshikov,
who was the best friend of Peter the Great.






Catherine and Peter the Great married secretly in 1707.
They had twelve children, only two of whom survived into adulthood.




(one of the many, many Russian brides we saw)

Catherine took the style of her husband and became Tsarina.
When Peter the Great elevated the Russian Tsardom to Empire, Catherine became Empress.


This stunning palace might remind you of The Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
The Hermitage is a museum founded by Catherine. It houses over more than 3 million art works.






They say you need 11 years to view all of the art work in The Hermitage.






Due to crowding, we did not go in sadly.
But nevertheless saw some beautiful buildings in Russia, like this book store:




And this amber & fur shop called Beluga Deluxe:









Fur was so unbelievably cheap, but I love animals so I don't wear it.

This shop was a street away from 'Church of our Saviour on the Spilled Blood'.









This Church was built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated and was dedicated in his memory.
Definitely my favorite site in St. Petersburg.

What sets St. Petersburg apart from Moscow, is it situated near the Baltic sea and has many rivers through the city.






And that wraps it up for my Russian adventure!
If you like to see the complete set of pictures, click here.

I have a special interior post coming up on how to make the most of a small living area,
and after that it's our final stop along the Baltic sea: Tallinn in Estonia!


Greetings,